*****Timestamped Highlights*****
(2:35) Alexandra provides a primer on nonprofit earned income
(4:25) The difference between related and unrelated income
(6:00) Assessing your gaps and assets: Starting point for earned income strategies
(7:19) Alexandra and Focus Point
(12:00) Biggest mistakes made when pursuing earned income
(14:10) Tips for maintaining earned-income strategies
(15:00) Keeping your donors’ support while pursuing earned income opportunities
(19:25) Opportunities for earned income strategies
(24:15) Explore unintended consequences
(28:41) Boosting earned income strategies by renting out space
(29:50) Consider charging for a service you are already providing
(35:50) Alex and Dolph discuss the best luggage for international travelListen oniTunesAndroidStitcherLibsyn

*****Timestamped Highlights*****
(3:42) Sandy discusses her counter-blog to Dahna Goldstein
(6:42) The biggest mistakes made when starting nonprofits
(8:42) Join the party? Merging ideas with an existing nonprofit
(10:45) A common scenario where merging does not work
(15:50) Know the Signs: How to know if someone is ready to start a nonprofit
(22:05) Sandy’s three problems with automatic revocation by the IRS
(26:37) Knowing the due dates and what’s due
(27:00) Handling the IRS
(29:00) Sandy shares what she wants to see less ofListen oniTunesAndroidStitcherLibsyn

We haven’t talked a lot about Peer to peer fundraising on this podcast; which is funny because that was the core method of fundraising until just the last 60 or so years. Over the last several decades, Peer to Peer fundraising (or P2P as it is sometimes called) has taken a backseat to direct mail, targeted mail, and more recently crowdfunding.

But just as technology has made recurring gifts and viral giving opportunities possible, it has also breathed new life into Peer to Peer fundraising.

For this reason, we invited Mark Becker Founding Partner at Cathexis Partners to discuss Peer to Peer Fundraising. Mark’s particular specialty is using technology to generate even more money from Peer to Peer fundraising campaigns.

Most organizations start as a project that obtains fiscal sponsorship from a larger and more established nonprofit. This practice has become so commonplace that most of us become familiar with the concept of fiscal sponsorship very early in our nonprofit journey.

But pursuing or being a fiscal sponsor requires careful thought, planning, and negotiation. To help nonprofits better understand the available models, we brought in fiscal sponsorship expert Andrew Schulman to discuss three fiscal sponsorship models, share resources for finding fiscal sponsors, and provide insight into negotiating your fiscal sponsorship agreement.

* * * * * Time Stamped Highlights * * * * *
(3:47) The most common types of fiscal sponsorship
(4:40) The benefits of a startup nonprofit using a fiscal sponsor
(5:53) How organizations can separate from their fiscal sponsor
(8:44) Fiscal sponsorship Model C, which allows the sponsored entity to remain independent
(10:00) Examples of individuals that obtain fiscal sponsorship
(12:38) The types of assistance that organizations need to establish a fiscal sponsorship relationship
(14:00) Things to consider before becoming a fiscal sponsor
(17:17) How to find a fiscal sponsor
(21:40) The project side of fiscal sponsorship
(25:50) Questions that projects seeking a fiscal sponsor should ask
(27:32) How a sponsored project can be certain that it is ready to separate and become independent
(31:49) The deal making advice our guest would give to Donald Trump

The nonprofit sector is risky business. There are unique laws that apply just to us; we have our own sections of the tax code; and we also must follow employment law, building codes, licensing requirements, and more.

Of course, the press loves to go after charities gone wild and personal injury attorneys salivate at the thought of chasing an organization’s assets on the balance sheet.

This is why we asked Justine Cowan to chat with us today about mitigating and insuring against the risk that we face as nonprofit organizations, as board members, and as staff members.

Our conversation included (Time Stamps):

(6:34) How to structure your nonprofit to mitigate risk

(8:00) The importance of annual state and Federal filings

(10:10) The single greatest area of liability and risk for most organizations

(11:52) The importance of training managers to manage

(14:25) The role of mitigating risk with insurance

(17:35) Mitigating risk when working with volunteers

(19:58) The confusion about overtime rules for employees, as well as failure to classify contractors as employees.

(26:14) Reasons the IRS revokes an organization’s tax-exempt status

(30:00) Ensuring you have a strong conflict of interest policy

(34:21) Indemnification of board members as an added protection for your leadership volunteers

(37:29) The possibility of disputes arising around contracts (and lack of contracts)

About Successful Nonprofits Podcast Host Dolph GoldenburgDolph is recognized as a high performance leader in the nonprofit sector who served as a nonprofit CEO for a dozen years and a fundraiser for an additional ten years. Author of the book Successful Nonprofits Build Supercharged Boards, Goldenburg also founded a boutique consulting firm based in Atlanta.

About Successful Nonprofits Bonus Break Host Dolph GoldenburgDolph is recognized as a high performance leader in the nonprofit sector who served as a nonprofit CEO for a dozen years and a fundraiser for an additional ten years. Author of the book Successful Nonprofits Build Supercharged Boards, Goldenburg also founded a boutique consulting firm based in Atlanta.

Today’s episode explores a unique path that one nonprofit took to transition from steady, incremental growth to a dramatic program expansion and impact. : buying a for profit company.

We spoke with David Shaffer, CEO of First Step Staffing. In 2015, First Step Staffing was a $2 million nonprofit organization providing employment opportunities for low-income, hard to employ people (including those who are homeless and citizens returning from incarceration). The nonprofit took a bold step by purchasing a for profit staffing firm with annual revenues of about $20 million!

One year after the purchase, First Step staffing was using the combined infrastructure to have a much larger impact on the community. They provided employment to over 2,100 of Atlanta’s homeless, and 86% of those working over 180 days were able to rent their own residence!

This unique conversation explored:

Identifying the company to purchase

Being willing to walk away from the wrong deal

Due diligence necessary to purchase a for profit company

Financing the purchase of a for profit company

Merging two entities with very different organizational cultures

Identifying metrics to track

Understanding the purchase’s impact on charitable contributions (they went up, listen to find out why)

Dolph is recognized as a high performance leader in the nonprofit sector who served as a nonprofit CEO for a dozen years and a fundraiser for an additional ten years. Author of the book Successful Nonprofits Build Supercharged Boards, Goldenburg also founded a boutique consulting firm based in Atlanta.His multi-state consulting practice provides interim executive transition, strategic planning, and organizational development services. The Goldenburg Group's clients have annual operating budgets ranging from $25,000 to over $25 million deployed in the areas of housing, education, civil rights, arts and culture, workforce development, health services, and community-based services.

Late last week the White House released Donald Trump’s “budget blueprint” that outlines his spending priorities and cuts for the upcoming fiscal year. Knowing that this budget blueprint could have broad implications for nonprofits across the nation, we read the 62 page document, researched the agencies to be impacted, and summarized changes that nonprofits should anticipate if the budget resembles this blueprint.

The budget blue print calls for the elimination of 9 programs, and we analyze the impact their termination will have on both grant funding for nonprofits, as well as likely increased demand from consumers who used to access programs funded by these agencies.

Not being content with eliminating the 9 agencies that form the core of our nation's nonprofit infrastructure, "the cuts keep coming". For this reason, we researched every cut listed in the budget blueprint - which goes beyond just the cuts to meals on wheels we've already heard so much about. We outline the elimination of some funding sources (including some block grants that fund many organizations), as well as the sharp reduction of others.

Dolph is recognized as a high performance leader in the nonprofit sector who served as a nonprofit CEO for a dozen years and a fundraiser for an additional ten years. Author of the book Successful Nonprofits Build Supercharged Boards, Goldenburg also founded a boutique consulting firm based in Atlanta.His multi-state consulting practice provides interim executive transition, strategic planning, and organizational development services. The Goldenburg Group's clients have annual operating budgets ranging from $25,000 to over $25 million deployed in the areas of housing, education, civil rights, arts and culture, workforce development, health services, and community-based services.

Article of the Week Denise Spivak
Denise Spivak of CenterLink joins us again for The Article of the Week. She’s sharing a great article by Pamela Barden titled Making It “All About Me” from the NonprofitPro website. The article is about being donor focused instead of treating our donors like human ATMs. Denise and I discuss the broader implications of being more donor focused.

This episode includes a featured conversation with nationally nationally renowned HR expert Gary Wheeler.

Many people would rather be doused by a bucket of ice water than talk about HR regulations, but there’s an upcoming change to the overtime rules that will impact many nonprofit organizations. In today's episode, Gary shares information about upcoming changes to overtime rules and how they may impact nonprofits across the country.​

Article of the Week
The New Yorker magazine opinion piece titled “Philanthropic Fads” by James Surowiecki does a great job of assessing the long-term impact of the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Do you remember when the ice bucket challenge went viral back in 2014? According to the ALS Association, over 17 million people uploaded their ice bucket challenge videos. You probably recall seeing new videos appear in your facebook feed every day. From your old high school friends, your organization’s CEO, and Hollywood’s biggest stars. You may have even taken the challenge yourself.

In just a six-week period, that first challenge unexpectedly flooded the ALS Association with over $115 million in donations. At the time the organization’s annual budget was only about $20 million, so this was a huge boost.

When the challenge went viral, many nonprofit leaders found fault with it. This great article addresses many of the criticisms by describing what actually happened in the two years since the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral.

Atlanta area accountant Anthony Sampson joins us for today’s podcast to talk about automatic revocation of tax-exempt status. Earlier this year, I met with the board of a small nonprofit organization, and a board member indicated that they were “too small to have to file an IRS form 990 of any sort”.​

My warning antenna shot up, and I suggested they were probably required to file one. Of course, I was clear that I am not a CPA or qualified to provide tax advice, so I offered to connect them with a a local accounting firm that works with a number of nonprofits.

After making the introduction, I did a little bit of research and was shocked at what I learned.

In calendar year 2015, the IRS revoked the federal tax-exempt status of more than 41,500 nonprofit organizations that failed to file a Form 990 for three consecutive years. That’s just the tip of the iceberg: the IRS has revoked the tax-exempt status of over 635,000 nonprofit organizations since implementing this rule in 2010. With only about 1.8 million nonprofits in the nation, about a third of all nonprofits have been subject to revocation.
Scanning the names and locations of those with revoked tax exempt status, the list represents a diverse group of nonprofits, including ministries, associations, fraternities, volunteer fire departments, sports clubs, social service providers, arts organizations, PTA’s, and more.
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After learning these jarring statistics, I knew it was essential that accountant Anthony Sampson join us for the featured conversation.

Phone: 770-900-0410
​Article of the Week: Get Intersectional
Leanne Rubenstein, Executive Director of Compassionate Atlanta, joined us for the Article of the Week by Kristin Moe: Get Intersectional: Why you can’t go it alone in Yes Magazine. This article on intersectionality applies to nearly every organization. Whether an art museum, a homeless shelter, an educational institution, or a civil rights organization, we can all get a little more intersectional.